was announced New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio teamed up with Craigslist to expand NYCs Worst Landlords Watch List so that tenants could easily network with others.

OldDebts.comoffers landlords the ability to report delinquent tenants ranging from past due rent, damages, and lease violations that result in financial obligations.

Landlords just create an account, submit the tenant to our database, and by selecting credit bureau reporting the bad tenant will be published with all 3 major credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and Transunion, explains Layla Bronson, a company spokesperson. Craigslist is going to have to educate tenants that their landlord list exists. On the other hand, all landlords access a credit bureau report on a prospective tenant. With OldDebts.com, all landlords will automatically be made aware of a delinquent tenant instantly and on a nationwide basis just by accessing a tenants credit history.

Layla added, We also provide these services to anyone looking to report a legitimate delinquent debt. From lawn care professionals to dentists, girl scout troops to notaries, veterinary clinics to painters.

A review of the OldDebts.com website shows they have no start up fees, no contingency costs, and no minimums to get started.

With AAOA, landlords have resources at their fingertips. Check out our Landlord Forms page.

Yay !!! It’s about time for landlords to be able to check on bad tenants, not just the other way around !!!

brassservices@yahoo.com

Since there are Constitutional protections against government interference in private contracts, and since the parties to the rental and lease agreements stipulate to certain matters therein, could this sort of reporting violate a tenants Rights?

I’m not clear that this is a good idea and would not come back to haunt a landowner whom we’re paid to protect from such matters as good managers.

Debt is one thing, but subjective matters like bad odors or unclean rugs? This could also be libelous if not done correctly. The way in which documentation of the allegations is kept in permanent files (how long should this be kept?). What are the penalties if a management employee has a beef with a tenant and reports falsely? Does my firms insurance cover malfeasance of this sort by an employee?

Lots of questions here….

Anthony

At the moment this sounds like a good thing! Although I don’t like the fact that it is a reactive measure and I do have concern with this being a retalitory measure for those who receive a negative report on craigslist.

Ron in Colorao

Heck! This why I wanted to join AAOA in the first place, hoping they would have a data base I could tap into as far as tenants who skip or leave a disaster behind.

Maybe if tenants had a ‘rental rating’ like a person has a ‘credit rating’ landlords could require an more deposit/rent from people who have a bad ‘rental rating’.

This would be a very good thing for tenants!! Tenants who have a good ‘rental rating’ could get cheaper rent and less deposit.

I’ve had past tenants call me and ask if they could rent from me again. If they were good tenant’s I’m always willing to lower the asking price to get back a tenant that was little problem.

In response to brassservices@yahoo.com, OldDebts.com is not designed to report subjective matters nor does the article suggest doing so. It is only for valid debts owed as per the tenant/landlord lease agreement.

In response to Anthony, OldDebts.com has been providing reporting services for over 10 years. Our reactive measure to the Craigslist Worst Landlord List is to now reach out to landlords – a market we have neglected – to advise them of options to report delinquent debt and make other landlords aware of it.

Here’s a coupon code good for 20% off any purchase of $25 or more on OldDebts.com! Just enter AAOA20 at checkout between now and April 30, 2011, and save!

brassservices@yahoo.com

Layla: damages can very much be subjective matters.

We inherited a mess from a landowners prior management firm for a tenant who moved out leaving floors damaged through the rugs down to the boards. The tenant claimed the damage was caused by a leak from upstairs that the prior managers fixed, but never did anything to address the water on the floors. The tenant had good documentation of their complaint and subsequent failure of the leak to stay fixed, and of the managers being warned about the warping floors. We put the ball right back to the landowner, as we were not about to step into the middle of this, but needless to say, damages are mentioned in the article and this goes to show how subjective this sort of thing can be. Objective damages are not the point of our concern; subjective blame IS, and it can cause liability to boomerang. We won’t bring liability to our clients when unnecessary. If they wish to do so, they can sign up and post such matters, but it is certainly NOT within our normal industry standards and practices, nor good business practice to do so.